Catalyzer.



its use, especially in the addition of hydro- UNITED STATES- PATENTOFFICE.

ALFRED A. WELLS, OI MONTCLAIB, NEW JERSEY. I

GAIALYZER.

79 4 4 Specification of Letters -Patent.

R0 Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

\ Be it 'known that I, ALFRED A. WELLS, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Montclair, in th county of Essex and Stateof New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Catalyzers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to catalytic bodies and relates in particular tocatalyzers comprising-a metal or metal oxid active body supported on acarrier of non-active material.

It has been proposed to use pumice stone, kieselguhr and other variousbodies for the supports in the preparation of catalyzers, but suchvarious supports have several disadvantages a'mong which mayparticularly be noted Waste of metal material involved because theporous body, absorbs into its inner canals great quantities of the metalsalt solution employed and such metal is practically .without actionbecause thepenetration of liquids or gases into the interior isrelatively very slight in comparison with the external action at thesurface of the fragments. Accordingly it is necessar to use with poroussupports often rom 30-50% of metal saltsolution, but salts of platinumor palladium are so expensivethat. waste of this kind makes thecatalyzer very costly.

The presence of the metal compound in the interior of the porous massrenders its extraction difficult when seeking to rege n erate or recoverthe spent material. During gen to oils and fats, a certain amount ofcarbonization takes place and the pores become to some extent, at least,clogged or the internal canals become surfaced with a carbonaceousdeposit which prevents re solu tion of the metal when its recovery isattempted and hence for these and other reasons I regard porous materialcapable of absorbing catalyzer and solutions and oils to beobjectionable for many purposes, in particular that already mentioned,the hydrogenation of.oils, especially the hydrogenation of petroleumoils to convert unsaturated compounds and stabilize the bodies which arenormally easily oxidizable. and tend to resinify. I

I have found that eminently results may be obtained wit satisfactory theuse of Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

Application filed October 11,1a1a' Serial a... 79am. v

only i to 1% of catalyze!- based on the support employed if the latteris non-porous so that the metal is fairly uniformly plated, or sheetedover the surface thereof and as a suitable support for carrying out thepresent invention I preferably employ glass which maybe of varyingdegrees of fineness, being quite finely-divided when I treat OllS in a.liquid state, but when treating vapors such as the vapors of gasolene'aforementioned, I prefer glass fragments of about lIlCll diameter whichpreferably should be made from glass raw material substantially freefrom sulfur. In any case it is desirable to wash-the fragments with hotdilute nitric acid, and then immerse in -a very concentrated solution ofnickel nitrate, which may be prepared by adding just enough water to thecrystals of this salt to render it liquid on gentle'heating. Thefragments which are coated. in this way with the salt are then ignitedat a temperature about 370 R, which temperature I find particularlyuseful for efi'ectmg a uniform plating or sheeting of the nickelmaterial. The product then maybe reduced in a current of hydrogen andvapors of unsaturated gasolene mingled with hydrogen or ahydrogen-containing gas passed through the interstices of the catalyticmass, a reaction which takes, place readily at about 250 C. Althoughhydrogen-containing gases My invention is not limited to the use of oneper cent. or less of active material on a non-porous support, but I mayuse a larger percentage, if desired, it being particularly useful ornecessary to secure a very fine sheet or coating of the active materialwithout causing formation of thick encrusting masses and the glassfragments may be centrifuged after immersing in the nickel solution asabove described in order to avoid an excess of'coating which wouldprevent th formation of a thin active layer. Besides glass, otherequivalent bodies of a non-porous character may likewise be employed. Y

What I claim is:

1. A catalyzer comprising fragments of glass about one-half inch indiameter, sheeted with reduced nickel, and the proportion of themetaltoaglass being about'l :100.

2. A catalyzer comprising reduced nickel coated .on glass,the-proportion of. nickel being about 1/100 of the Weight of the glass.

3. A catalyzer comprising fragments of glass sheeted with reducednickel, the proportion of nickelto" glass being about 1:100.

4. A catalyzer comprising fragments of glass sheeted With a relativelysmall proportion of reduced nickel having catalyticproperties.

5. A catalyzer comprising fragments of glass coated with reduced nickelhaving catalytic properties.

ALFRED A. WELLS. Witnesses: i a

I. DAVID'LUBETZKI, I JOEL STARRnLs.

